10 WWE Wrestler Attires That Paid Tribute To Other Wrestlers

3. The New Day - Various (SmackDown, 31st October 2017)

Candie La Rae Shawn Michaels
WWE

Big E is dressed as Akeem from 2017 in the image above because it happens to be your writer's favourite of the bunch, but The New Day have done a fantastic job over the last few Halloween editions of WWE television of paying homage to company icons in the name of injecting patter into proceedings.

With E as the 'African Dream', Kofi Kingston as Brother Love and Xavier Woods in Jimmy Hart attire, the 1980s were well represented, unlike the year prior in which they hilariously covered three faces of Charles Wright (Kama Mustafa, Papa Shango and The Godfather) and an awesome turn as The Brood in 2018.

The love is clear in the outfit choice, and it goes some way to reconciling something of an adoration the current crop of stars have for older talents that they sometimes struggle to break free from. Dolph Ziggler coined the "Gratitude Era" as a phrase to sum up the levels of hero worship replacing the thirst for current stars to make money and make themselves stars, but these gentle nods to the past are so impeccably silly that they skew similar serious analysis beyond affectionate parody.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett